She starts off this chapter talking about how people who are different find similarities between each others to unite. They were using their lack of experience with the social college life to find something to unite about and give them similarities. She then talks about the experience of different foreign people at the school and the American customs that they notice and give example to. One of the biggest ones to get me was the fact that it seems we don't care about others. We ask people how they feel and what is going on, yet we never bother to actually talk to them or do anything about it. We tell people that we will see them later and don't follow through, which for us isn't that big of a deal but confuses people of other cultures. She talks about then how school in other nations is about the building of bonds and connections, but in America we are there for a grade mainly. She mentions that hobbies though can help with finding friends because it gives people something to unite over. Another thing that is noted is how Americans are independent of their families while most of the foreign families are very close to each other. Along with all of the other things, she mentions how the American system is more informal to other methods. Some students are not able to interrupt the professors with questions while others are shocked to find that students sleep during classes. But in the end, it came back around to how ignorant Americans are to other students.
I think this shows something very negative about the Americas and about how we deal with different people. The foreign students talk about how in their home nations people are very nice to outsiders and are interested in where they are from, their back story and so on, but in America we don't ask those questions or go out of the way for them to be introduced. We live around them and don't recognize them unless it is a special circumstance. What I believe that this shows is that we are a selfish community. What I mean by that is that we care more for out culture, our circle of friends, what we experience on a daily basis, than what someone who is foreign to us has experienced. I think that this needs to change so we can learn more about the world and the others in it. Not only will this allow us to know how other cultures act and what they do, but allow them to feel welcome and wanted.
The Mind at Work
He starts by talking about of group of young boys working on a plumbing underneath a ladies sink. He goes on to talk about how the boys are being trained to work in low income housing to learn how to think and operate in a way that can't happen in an environment like a new construction site because there are more issues around to be had like messed up materials or odd potions of things. What the students are learning is that a house is a thing built of many materials that need to be put together correctly for everything to run properly. They are trained to be "diagnostic" or look at things in a checklist of what might cause the particular issue. As they get more experience, they will be able to hone in on the issues right from the start but need to learn what might lead to each issue before that can happen and that will only happen from experience in the field. There is talk about trades people having a library in their head, and that their knowledge is what they experience and can deal with at their jobs and what they do.
She starts off this chapter talking about how people who are different find similarities between each others to unite. They were using their lack of experience with the social college life to find something to unite about and give them similarities. She then talks about the experience of different foreign people at the school and the American customs that they notice and give example to. One of the biggest ones to get me was the fact that it seems we don't care about others. We ask people how they feel and what is going on, yet we never bother to actually talk to them or do anything about it. We tell people that we will see them later and don't follow through, which for us isn't that big of a deal but confuses people of other cultures. She talks about then how school in other nations is about the building of bonds and connections, but in America we are there for a grade mainly. She mentions that hobbies though can help with finding friends because it gives people something to unite over. Another thing that is noted is how Americans are independent of their families while most of the foreign families are very close to each other. Along with all of the other things, she mentions how the American system is more informal to other methods. Some students are not able to interrupt the professors with questions while others are shocked to find that students sleep during classes. But in the end, it came back around to how ignorant Americans are to other students.
I think this shows something very negative about the Americas and about how we deal with different people. The foreign students talk about how in their home nations people are very nice to outsiders and are interested in where they are from, their back story and so on, but in America we don't ask those questions or go out of the way for them to be introduced. We live around them and don't recognize them unless it is a special circumstance. What I believe that this shows is that we are a selfish community. What I mean by that is that we care more for out culture, our circle of friends, what we experience on a daily basis, than what someone who is foreign to us has experienced. I think that this needs to change so we can learn more about the world and the others in it. Not only will this allow us to know how other cultures act and what they do, but allow them to feel welcome and wanted.
The Mind at Work
He starts by talking about of group of young boys working on a plumbing underneath a ladies sink. He goes on to talk about how the boys are being trained to work in low income housing to learn how to think and operate in a way that can't happen in an environment like a new construction site because there are more issues around to be had like messed up materials or odd potions of things. What the students are learning is that a house is a thing built of many materials that need to be put together correctly for everything to run properly. They are trained to be "diagnostic" or look at things in a checklist of what might cause the particular issue. As they get more experience, they will be able to hone in on the issues right from the start but need to learn what might lead to each issue before that can happen and that will only happen from experience in the field. There is talk about trades people having a library in their head, and that their knowledge is what they experience and can deal with at their jobs and what they do.